84 – If it’s a Game, isn’t it okay to have a baby with your little sister?

“Onii, line up the cards over there. Ookin, your character can go right there.”

“Ah, ok…”

“Understood, Megumi-sama!”

Usually so languid, Megumi briskly prepared the board game. Ooki, utterly smitten with her, sat up straight with a formal salute.

The board game’s setting was another world. Instead of a multi-seater open car, it was a carriage, but aside from that, nothing felt particularly strange.

The board had spaces, and a roulette wheel in the center, just like the normal game.

Even when Megumi was busy with something, she always seemed natural — always at her own pace. People sometimes criticized her for lacking seriousness, but those critics were mostly inferior performers who were just jealous of her talent.

Maybe for Megumi, “seriousness” meant not being tense about things. Right now, she wasn’t so much serious as she was… buoyant, almost giddy.

It’s the kind of thing you’d miss if you didn’t know her well. But as her brother, I could tell. Even if it was just “kind of.”

Still, it was strange.

Megumi saw Freesia as “me” (Brad). So why was she this excited about playing a board game without Freesia?

While I puzzled over that, slipping into deep thought—

“Brad, Brad.”

“Brad-sama, it’s your turn.”

The two of them called me back to reality several times. They had already placed their stick figures, red and blue, into their carriages and moved them according to the roulette.

“Kukuku… I’ve kept you waiting! It’s my turn!!! Spin, world spin for me!”

I carefully flicked the wheel like I was touching a raw egg, not wanting to break the knob. It spun with a sharp scraping sound…

“…”

“Brad, you can move forward one space.”

After all that buildup, such a tiny result left me feeling hollow. Megumi’s calm voice, though, softened the blow a little.

【There’s no use rushing through life. Take a rest, take a rest.】

My carriage landed on a space with that irritating message…

Meanwhile, Oki had already reached the tenth space on his second turn.

【Draw a Destiny Card】

“Yes! I defeated the goblins raiding the town!”

He gained a thousand gold and a hundred fame points.

Megumi outstripped even that. Her fame points shot past ten thousand, and she was promoted to baroness.

“Ugh… I don’t even want a title…”

And here I was, still loitering around the starting town, completely left behind while Megumi and Ooki blazed ahead in a heated race. I was about ready to sigh and say, You two youngsters can carry on without me, like some matchmaking go-between at a formal sit-down… when it happened.

Megumi landed on a 【Destiny Card】 space and slowly drew one from the pile.

“Draw! Player One and Player Three must marry and proceed together.”

…What?

Since when was that part of Life?

“Let me see that.”

I frowned suspiciously.

Megumi handed me the card without fuss. Sure enough, it said exactly what she’d read.

“Okay then, Brad move next to Megumi.”

Before I could react, she plucked my blue stick figure out of my sluggish carriage, which hadn’t even advanced ten spaces after four rounds, and placed it in her red-figure carriage.

“I’m Okada Megumi. I may be inexperienced, but please take care of me!”

She gave a little bow. Game or not, getting a marriage greeting from a beauty like her made my heart skip.

No, no Megumi is my little sister!

“B-Brad Liebenracia. Even in a mere game, if you’ve become my wife, then be prepared.”

Slipping into “Brad mode,” I ended up adopting an arrogant tone toward my sister, something I could never do in real life. I didn’t want to treat sweet, capable Megumi that way at all.

But she paid it no mind. Her hand dove into her school bag, and for a split second as she pulled something out, I glimpsed a red box marked #.# Panicking, I cut in.

“Whatever it is, you seem resolved. But it isn’t wise to keep a loyal retainer waiting.”

“Brad-sama, I will wait as long as you need…”

“Silence, you. This is between Megumi and me.”

“…Forgive me.”

“No, I spoke too harshly.”

As Oki and I exchanged apologies, Megumi kept on at her own pace.

“Is that so? If Brad says so, I’ll stop. So then, who spins the roulette next?”

“Should we take turns?”

“That sounds fine—”

But right away, she landed on:

【There’s no use rushing through life. Take a rest, take a rest.】

“Ahh, I have to rest. Brad, let’s rest too.”

“What is that move… well, fine.”

“But since we’re married, a special effect activates.”

Eh?

I re-read the card and realized the shocking implication just as she added another stick figure to our carriage.

“You mean, this ‘rest’ is…”

“Yep, we did it— we had a baby! What should we name it?”

Megumi clearly had no idea I’d reincarnated. She was cheerfully pondering baby names while sweat streamed down my back.

My little sister and I… making children…

No, no this was just a game. Like an online marriage in an MMO.

And yet—

【There’s no use rushing through life. Take a rest, take a rest.】

No matter how many times the wheel spun, it always landed on “Rest.”

Soon, the backseat of our carriage overflowed with children, stick figures representing more kids than the carriage could hold.

“I wonder why? So weird. Only Brad and I keep having babies, it’s a mystery!”

Megumi and my “children”… only in the board game, but once they passed twenty, Ooki, now completely alone, hung his head low.

“What’s wrong, Okin?”

“…There’s something I need to tell you, Lady Megumi.”

Finally. Ooki was going to confess!

“If it’s hard to say with me here, I’ll step out—”

“No, please stay. I need you here…”

I really wanted to see what would happen, but staying would feel way too insensitive. Just as I started to leave, he stopped me.

“Lady Megumi… I couldn’t say it until now. But… Nemoto-san was caught by Yokota and thrown into a cell. I—I was too scared of Tsutsumi-kun, of defying him. But if we have Brad-sama’s strength, we can save Nemoto-san.”

…Huh?

That wasn’t the kind of “confession” I was expecting.

Not a romantic one?

Well, I guess it was still a confession of sorts, something he’d bottled up for too long.

“Thank you, Ookin. I did think something was strange. That kid is the cause, right?”

“Yes… just as you suspected, Lady Megumi.”

Her tone had shifted slightly. She was pausing between phrases. And I knew from experience — that was when Megumi was furious.

[TL: He actually doesn’t notice that Megumi calls him Onii and he answers her, low IQ lol]